


Leave This Blue Neighborhood

by allyargent



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Just your typical zouis stoner high school au, M/M, Oh wait and its set in 1996/the 90s, and theyre american because i was too lazy to look into british customs and slang oops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 20:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5388617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyargent/pseuds/allyargent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>~Work in progress~</p><p>Despite coming from different backgrounds, Zayn and Louis have been best friends since fifth grade. It's now junior year and Louis is finally getting into a relationship with the girl he's had a crush on since freshman year. Zayn discovers that for some reason, he doesn't want Louis and Eleanor to be together. Drama ensues. Set somewhere in California in 1996.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leave This Blue Neighborhood

As soon as his feet left the ground, Louis knew he had fucked up. There was a moment where his stomach lurched into his chest as he desperately tried to meet his scuffed black and white vans with the skateboard below, but it was too late. His timing had been way off and Louis felt the left side of his body hit the concrete, at the last second propping his elbow out in an attempt to brace himself at least somewhat. “Fuck” Louis thought as he turned onto his back so that he lay completely flat, staring at the clear blue sky. He heard the sound of the wheels of his board rolling against the pavement in the skate park, and from a bit further away, the distinctive sound of Zayn’s laugh. He couldn’t see his best mate but he was certain he was doubled over, tears forming in his eyes. If there was anything that was funny to Zayn, it was Louis consistently wiping out and falling on his ass when trying yet another new skate trick after promising “I got it dude, just watch!” 

The embarrassment of todays wipe out stung a little stronger considering that Louis’ longtime crush, Eleanor Calder, had tagged along to watch the boys and try a little skateboarding herself. Sure enough when Louis sat up, checking to see if the sleeves of his pale blue jean jacket had torn, he spotted Eleanor standing next to Zayn with one hand over her mouth, failing to conceal the fact that she was laughing just as hard as him. Great, thought Louis, I really know how to make an impression. Not that it particularly mattered, Eleanor had been good friends with Louis and Zayn since Freshman year, although it was only more recently that the three of them had been hanging out by themselves outside of school. 

Louis and Zayn had been best friends since fifth grade. After a tussle between them left them waiting outside the principals office while their parents were filled in about how their disagreement over a beanbag chair had escalated, Louis and Zayn had ended up bonding over the superhero buttons pinned to Zayn’s navy book bag. 

“There’s always a couple boys that have a hard time adjusting to a new school and end up lashing out, causing trouble for the other students as well” Their principal warned the four parents as Zayn and Louis excitedly discussed the new Captain America movie in the oversized chairs just outside the door. 

And they were the two troublemakers. In eighth grade they would become notorious for the graffiti incident. It all started the day the entire tech class went outside to paint their model racecars they had made from wood. Most of the class had opted for spray-paint instead of acrylics because it was easier, and as they were leaving the parking lot Louis ran up next to Zayn, nudging him in the side to get his attention. Zayn looked at Louis’ face and immediately realized he was up to something, Louis was always bad at concealing when he had done something worth getting in trouble for. Louis opened his jacket just enough for Zayn to see that he had stolen two cans of spray-paint, one black and one blue. 

“Dude” Zayn whispered “What are you gonna do with those?”

“What do you think?” Louis asked, looking at him as his classic mischievous smile spread across his face.

“Graffiti? Where are you gonna do that?” Zayn was no stranger to words and symbols on buildings and trashcans, his own neighborhood boasting an abundant amount of the stuff, but he had never done any himself, and Louis had definitely never attempted the deed. 

Louis came from a middle class neighborhood, and while there weren’t any white picket fences, there definitely weren’t any tags on the local carwash like the one Zayn walked by on his way home from the bus stop. Zayn didn’t think Louis would dare use the spray paint on anything in his own up kept neighborhood, and the thought of Louis coming to Zayn's part of town to graffiti made Zayn uncomfortable. 

“On the school somewhere. I was thinking maybe Mrs. Hannigan’s room.” Louis looked at Zayn for approval. 

“Inside?? Dude that’s crazy” Zayn realized he was talking above a whisper and quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening to them.

“No, no” Louis reassured him. “Like, outside around her window. She’s on the first floor.” 

“Oh, yea that makes more sense. “ Zayn bit his lip and looked at Louis to see how serious he was about the whole thing. 

The eagerness in his eyes told him that Louis wasn’t looking to back out at the last minute. A closed lip smile broke across Zayn’s face and he stifled a laugh as an idea of what to write came to him. 

“We could draw an arrow pointing to her window and say ‘Caution: Sleeping Giant inside” referring to Mrs. Hannigan’s large frame and the time she had dozed off at a school assembly.

Louis burst out laughing “Brilliant. Absolutely perfect. You’re a brilliant man Zayn.” 

And so that afternoon they began their month long crusade of graffitiing the brick walls of their middle school. Each time it was a different teachers room and a different joke. It got to the point where kids would eagerly circle the school each morning, looking for a new addition to the twisted art designs. It was madness, and kids wound up being late to their first period classes, creating an even bigger push for the staff to find the culprits.

When they finally got caught, in the middle of writing “Caution: This room contains toxic gas” next to the window of a teacher that had passed gas in class that week, Zayn and Louis dropped their spray cans and immediately burst into a sprint. The two had never felt a bigger adrenaline rush than they did that night, laughing as the janitor huffed behind them, the light from his flashlight reflecting off the shiny black leather jacket Zayn always wore. They turned a corner and were met with the red and blue lights of a cop car, causing the two wannabe fugitives to stop dead in their tracks and trip over their feet as they struggled to change course. The school had planned to corner them, and Zayn and Louis watched as their principal stepped forward under the bright yellow streetlight they had stopped under. It was no use running, he had seen their faces. They ended up getting suspended a week and grounded for longer. 

“I told you Pauline, there’s always a pair of troublemakers that think they’ve got it all figured out” The principal mentioned to his secretary as he watched the boys and their parents walk out of his office the next day. “Tsk. It’s a shame.” Pauline said without taking her eyes off the paperwork in front of her. 

~~~

Zayn was still laughing when Louis walked up to his two friends standing next to the rails at the skate park, giving the boy a light punch to the arm. 

“Hey, knock it off” Louis teased, “I’d like to see you try to do a kick flip directly after rolling down a curve.” 

Louis turned to Eleanor who was no longer laughing, but still sported a smile so wide and genuine that her eyes appeared to sparkle. God, she was beautiful. 

Zayn’s laughing died down as he looked at Louis and proclaimed “Well, see, unlike you Louis, I never claimed that I COULD do a kick flip after a curve. S’not embarrassing that I don’t know how” 

But Louis was too caught up in looking at Eleanor to pay much attention to Zayn's taunts. She was wearing a light yellow tank top under a light grey cardigan and had her arms folded across her chest, she looked pointedly at Louis as she joked “Next time you promise me a show, let me know if its gonna be a gag show before you drag me over here.” 

Louis widened his eyes and opened his mouth in mock hurt, “I’m offended you thought I would offer anything less than comedy gold.” 

Zayn smiled a bit, looking away to the other side of the park where a bunch of middle school kids in hoodies were gathered around a boom box. He didn’t know exactly when Louis and Eleanor had started their constant flirting, but he knew it was sometime since the start of Junior year, and he knew it had been going on long enough for it to be annoying at this point. It was obvious Eleanor now returned the feelings Louis had had about her since their first year of high school, Louis just needed to make the first move- and something a little bigger than laughing at all her jokes or giving her free weed. Zayn thought back to the first time they had met Eleanor, how Louis had spent the entire bus ride home talking about how hot she was, and how she had “totally seemed like she actually liked talking to me in second period. Ms. Rankowski even had to tell us to be quiet!” Louis boasted. Zayn could remember that entire conversation they had the ride home their first day at Weston Hills High, but it wasn’t because of Louis gushing over Eleanor. 

The day Louis started freshman year his mother greeted him with eggs and bacon in their kitchen, freshly painted a light green over the summer. Louis mother, Jay, was always trying out new things on the house, making comments about how beneficial it was to change things around from time to time. She used the words “feng shui” and “aura” and read magazines with pictures from houses much nicer than theirs.

Louis sat at the hardwood table, a dark cherry topped with six white cloth placemats, one for each family member. Louis mother sat down across from him, wearing a look that alerted Louis to the fact that she wanted to say something to him. 

“What, Mom?” Louis asked offhandedly between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs. 

“I just… your father and I, we want you to do well in high school. It’s a chance for you to turn over a new leaf.” Jay began 

Louis was only half listening. It sounded like a version of the same spiel he had gotten over and over since his suspension last March. 

“I don’t want you getting anymore suspensions. You have no idea how upset your father was after the incident last year.” She said “incident” in the same the way people talked about a murder they were trying to cover up.  
“I don’t know... if hanging out with Zayn is the best idea.” 

Suddenly Louis was paying attention. 

“He doesn’t come from the best neighborhood, just last night on the news they reported another gang related shooting from the Westside.” Louis’ mom paused, waiting to see if Louis was going to say anything. He just stared at her from across the table, mouth closed, his hand resting on the table and gripping his fork. 

“It might make more sense for you to branch out. It’s a new school; there will be tons of new kids you can make friends with. Maybe someone that lives closer.” She licked her lips and swallowed, slightly nervous about Louis’ silence.

“Is that it?” Louis finally spoke up. 

“Well... yes. But...we’re serious Louis.” 

Louis still just stared. Finally he broke into a smile and stated, almost with a hint of pride, “You know the whole graffiti incident was my idea, right? I know Zayn may wear leather jackets and not say much when you’re around, but he’s the good one Mom. Seriously. You can have him over for dinner if you don’t believe me. You should see him with his little sisters, he’s got like a heart of gold.” Louis looked at his mother, waiting for her response. 

“Well… alright. Maybe we’ll try the dinner thing. But I still don’t want you hanging out in his neighborhood at least. It’s way too dangerous.” Louis saw the genuine concern on his mothers face when talking about Zayn’s neighborhood and nodded. 

“Yea, alright Mom, we basically just hang out at the skate park near the school or the mall across town anyways. You know that.” 

He stood up from the table and grabbed his backpack, “Bye mom, love you. I don’t wanna miss the bus.” Louis said as he started walking across the kitchen to the back door.

Jay nodded, calling out “Bye sweetie, be good!” as she watched him disappear outside. 

That was the story Louis told Zayn on the bus later that day.

“Can you believe that?” Louis laughed, leaning back against the blue plastic of the bus seat. “She really thinks you’re like a gang member or something.”

Louis looked at Zayn, who was sitting next to him and holding his skateboard between his legs. He had opted to wear black jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and his classic leather jacket for their first day. Zayn looked back at him, forcing a smile. 

“Yea, that’s crazy.” He said, trying his best to sound lighthearted and disguise the hurt in his voice. 

Louis detected it immediately, and it dawned on him that maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned the conversation with his Mom to Zayn at all. Realizing there was now an awkward tension between the two of them, Louis shifted the topic to the gorgeous brunette from second period, “Eleanor was her name, I think.” For the rest of the ride Zayn spent more time than usual staring at the top of the skateboard resting between his knees. Zayn was one of the few kids from his neighborhood that hadn’t ending up going to their local high school. Weston High had selective admission, meaning he had to take a test to get in, and most of the kids he had grown up with either hadn’t bothered or didn’t get in. He wasn’t too worried about it since he knew that he would be with Louis, but the overwhelming percentage of upper class white kids he had seen in the hallways that day had still startled him. He wasn’t completely out of his depth though. Zayn’s family always talked about wanting to move from their current place, and unlike some of the friends he had made, both his parents were active and supporting members of his life. They put a lot of pressure on Zayn, their oldest and only son, to do well in school in the hopes that he could have a better situation when he was older. But there were some things that Zayn did experience that kids like Louis couldn’t understand. His cousin was in jail, the cops were constantly patrolling the corner he walked past on his way to the bus stop, and just this last summer Zayn had heard that one of the boys he used to play soccer with at the park had been involved in some sort of gang initiation. The kid, Taylor, was only 14 and he already felt the need to join to protect his family.

Zayn thought about Taylor as he made the walk from the bus stop to his house a couple blocks over. He knew he was starting High School today too, but at Bennett High, the local school Zayn would’ve ended up at if he hadn’t gotten into Weston. Except the thing was, Taylor was smarter than him, or at least he had been in third grade. He remembered how when they played soccer after school, Taylor would always brag about the 100s he got on his math tests, making Zayn jealous- although he was careful to never let him know. He should be at Weston, not me, Zayn thought as he walked up the steps of his porch, fumbling in his pocket for his house key. Those were the things Louis didn’t understand, and Zayn wondered if he should ever try to explain them to him. Maybe not, he decided; as he walked inside and bent down to take off his shoes in the front hall. He’d probably try to understand and be nice about it but then end up forgetting about it within a week or so.

Although nothing came of the threats Louis’ parents made about Zayn, the fact that it had been an issue in the first place still stuck with Zayn. It had been over two years since that conversation on the bus, and Louis and Zayn had gotten closer than ever. They started smoking weed about halfway through freshman year, and it didn’t take long for it to turn into a much more than occasional habit. They had their spots around town: the ally behind the bakery near Louis’s house (the bakers son knew about their visits and covered for them in exchange for discounted weed), the abandoned pool and pool shed in the park across the street from the skate park, and the back parking lot of the Kmart down the block from their school. The store didn’t open until 10 AM, making it an ideal spot for a before-class smoke at 7:30. It wasn’t that they only hung out to smoke together; it just happened that they both really liked smoking weed, and they did it often. They would’ve best friends regardless, but there was a special kind of bond that came with sneaking around to get high together. They didn’t hold back on conversation during their adventures either. Louis and Zayn spilled everything about their lives to each other when they got high. Sure, sometimes they just laughed at the stupid shit in MAD magazines, but other times Louis would end up telling Zayn about how the look in his fathers eyes last night at dinner made him feel like he could never be good enough, and Zayn would tell Louis about how the way his mothers voice sounded that morning made him wonder how much faith she actually had in who he could become. They both agreed that the most important thing they worried about was being a good role model for their little sisters, and they both hated the pressure to go to college since neither of their parents or grandparents did. They talked about the outside world sometimes, about how scary the future sounded, or who they thought would win the presidential election. Zayn remembered the day Kurt Cobain died and how upset Louis was. Zayn had never been the biggest fan of rock music but he listened to Louis go on and on about how he was a legend with revolutionary music, nodding at all the right times to let him know he really was listening to every word. Two years later on the day Tupac was shot, Louis did the exact same thing for Zayn

That was three months ago, around the same time they had started really hanging out with Eleanor. Zayn didn’t know what had made Eleanor decide she was into Louis, but as he watched the two flirt back and forth no more than five feet away from him, he concluded it would be obvious to someone 25 feet away that the two 16 year olds had pitiful puppy love crushes on each other. 

“Well I should probably get going now” Eleanor said, not bothering to hide the disappointment in her voice. 

Louis glanced up to the darkening sky and agreed, “Yea, it’s getting pretty dark. Probably not the safest place to be when the sun goes down.” 

“Pshhh it’s not that, Louis” Eleanor said with a hint of defensiveness in her tone. “I can handle myself, I just need to get home for dinner. Duh.” She playfully hit his arm and giggled again. 

“Oh right, well see ya at school tomorrow” Louis said, watching her walk away

“Bye” she called out as she swiveled her head over her shoulder and waved to Louis. 

“Oh, and bye Zayn!” She waved at Zayn, who gave her a quick smile and a curt wave. She was halfway across the skate park when she stopped mid stride and turned around.

“Hey! Are you guys going to Stan’s party tomorrow?” Eleanor yelled to the boys still standing next to the rails.

“We wouldn’t miss it!” Louis shouted back. “Are you going?”

“Well if you are, then yea I definitely am” Eleanor smiled, turned on her heel and continued to cross the park. 

“Damn, she really wants you man.” Zayn told his friend as the two of them began to walk towards the park across the street with their abandoned pool smoke spot. 

“Yea, yea. I really think so.” Louis talked fast and excitedly. The rate and amount at which Louis talked could almost always be directly correlated with his happiness level. 

“I mean, you should hear how much she laughs at the things I say. They’re not even that funny!” Louis laughed as he said that, stepping off the curb to cross the empty street.

“I know dude, I DO hear her laugh, I’m with you all the time.” Zayn reminded him.

“Oh, right, right. Yea I know.” Louis laughed again. 

From the look of realization on his face as he said that, Zayn could tell that it genuinely had not occurred to Louis that Zayn was present for all of their exorbitant flirting. Jesus, this kid was in deep. 

“You’ve got to make a move at that party tomorrow Louis. Stop beating around the bush, just kiss her, mate.” They had reached the pool shed in the park and Zayn watched as Louis jiggled the chains on the door handles so that they fell off, allowing him to swing open the doors. The tiny shed was made entirely of wood and covered in chipped white paint. It could fit maybe four people at max. A long time ago Louis and Zayn had managed to break the rusty lock that was wrapped in chains and secured the abandoned structure. Ever since they made sure to arrange the bundle upon leaving so it looked like the lock remained in place and no one would notice anything out of the ordinary. Louis sat down on a plank of wood that had once held bottles of cleaning supplies. It was big enough and Louis was small enough to comfortably sit on it, allowing him to place his army green backpack in his lap and take out the pre rolled joint and lighter from the bags hidden pocket. 

“Yea man, I will. I really will.” Louis sounded both nervous and excited, and Zayn wondered if he would really end up kissing her. He also wondered why he felt no shared excitement with his friend, especially when just last year he had been thrilled when Louis told him he finally got Eleanor’s phone number. At the very least he should feel some sort of relief that the constant dancing around the line and flirting would soon be coming to an end. Instead, Zayn felt almost annoyed. Before he had time to consider why on earth he’d be annoyed with his best friend getting the girl of his dreams, Louis was passing him the joint and Zayn soon forgot about anything other than the smell of weed and the story Louis was practically jumping out of his seat to tell him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this is my first work. I know the direction I want it to take but havent actually written all of it yet. Hopefully it will end up being around 20k or more. I would love feedback especially since I've never published fanfiction before. Later chapters are gonna delve into deeper topics like homophobia and even more classism. Will also probably have smut and I'll increase the rating when I get there. Hope you liked this!


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